I'm going to, or might, try my hand at writing a story set in a southeast asian country. Like Cambodia, or Malaysia, or Singapore. A multi-ethnic country, it has a large population of ethnic chinese who came here via immigration. Same for many other cultures. There is a strong christian element, remaining from the efforts of British missionaries. The staple food here is rice and plantains, supplemented by other types of food brought in via immigration. The size of the country is not decided yet. Corruption is low, but omnipresent. There's always a bribe, or something. Potholes not filled. Embezzlement and such. Slow government. People make do. The country is in itself no wealthy. There are a few mines, and they sell rice, fruit, and other agricultural products. But there aren't any great oil fields, or great veins of precious minerals or metals. Religion? It comes and goes. Main religion is something not christianity, nor atheism. And that's... the most I have.
Not sure what the question is? Buddhism would probably be most common religion in that region. For ethnic Chinese, religion may be or Shenism, Taoism if not Buddhist.
I'm writing a country set in southeast Asia. And I'm trying to flesh it out. Because I don't exactly feel like taking a real life country. So I want to ask vital questions.
Ok. But without really knowing what you are going for with the story there are way to many areas that we could expand on. I would start from the ground up at first and then based on what is important to the story add more details and tie them together. 1. When was your country founded? 2. How was it founded? (Previous country splintered, rebelled against rulers, military coup that then overthrew neighbors and claimed territory, ect). 3. If based in current world who are its neighbors? 4. What is the relationship like with neighbors? How is this relevant to the story? Expand as needed 5. You mentioned a large number of immigrants. How do the current residents view them? Are they accepted or looked down on. Do they integrate or tend to live in monocultural enclaves? How is this relevant to the story? 6. How well do the various religions get along? Is there tension?
basically you need to do a lot of research on countries in that area - vietnam, laos, cambodia, thailand, myanmar etc then take the elements you want for your country for example you say british missionaries wheras most of indo china was in the french sphere of influence, while a large chunk of the east indies were dutch - the british shere was pretty much myanmar, thailand and malaysia, so where does you country sit in relation to those states... why was it british rather than french... etc you also need to decide where it is located in reference those countries
with my mod hat on - i'd draw your attention to the sticky for this section - in particular this bit "When using the Setting Development sub-forum, remember to have specific questions in mind. Posts to the tune of "Is this setting believable/interesting?" give the forum members little to go off of when responding since even the most outlandish or mundane setting can be believable/interesting when executed by a deft hand." if you want ask vital questions, ask them... vague generalities are very hard for anyone to give advice on
In general, I don't think it is a good idea to create a country from whole cloth. Since you want to have a British element, I think you should just use Myanmar (Burma) as is. Less effort than creating a consistently fictional country. Fictional towns or counties are OK if they are small and not relevant to the story except as background, but big cities and countries, not unless you are writing fantasy
Someone didn't tell Frederick Forsyth before he wrote the dogs of war, or more recently Matt Lynn before he wrote Fireforce
I got to say, I disagree. Create your own Nation can be really fun, especially when you get into the whole cultural Dynamics and political systems. And, it avoids a lot of murky nonsense. I'm here too encourage accelerator to develop this country. Like others have told him, study the area he wants the country and the regions around it. Heck, since it's a fictional country he can have his own religion that developed in this one country. Or a new unique blend is also possible. He doesn't have stayed Ridgid to real world religion Nation-building is fun, especially when you explore the other cultures around it.
Isn't singapore rather different culturally from the other countries around it? Isn't that a bad idea?
Food Order some authentic food from Asia if you've never been there. It's nothing like the fried version in the west and we only eat a tiny fraction of their available fruits. Prickly ash will make your tongue go numb in an instant. Their oranges are in many different colors. Bean paste tastes almost like almond paste and is common in pastry. Stereotypes are real but not so common Chinese people do eat rats and dogs, but mostly in the countryside and GuangDong province. Poor farmers in GuangZhou may still be seen wearing rice hats, but that's just random. Nearby city people make jokes about the Cantonese eating everything with wings or legs. Sundried rats and other wild animals from the jungle of LianZhou are flattened and displayed proudly in the front window to make people feel hungry for some meat. "Ching Zhong" (Cartman parody) is not proper Chinese, because the family name comes before the person name. "Zhong Ching" is a common man's name in eastern name order. Culture A story set in Asia will often include family honor and people who marry the wrong person out of pressure from relatives. Tourism If the perspective is a tourist's, scammers are everywhere trying to sell fake watches to the "stupid westerner who pays too much". Impressing an Asian woman is more about how much you haggled down the price than the actual quality of the hotel. Nobody wants a spender who can't be unemployed for a while. Weather Monsoon season every August with hurricanes, canceled flights, emergency evacuations, broken buildings, trashed cars, neon signs hanging from broken electric cables over the street...
I'm saying you wanted to base it on Singapore and you're in Singapore, so you have access to a far better resource for research than we do.
also from singapore you have much easier access to malaysia, and indeed thailand than most of us... pick a country to base it on, research that country, visit it if able... and so on
Urm... do you have any suggestions? How do you start? The sheer volume of information seems intimidating. How do I get the 'broad strokes' right?
I'd start with wikipedia and the appropriate 'rough guide' - it may also be appropriate to contact said country's embassy if background info is otherwise sparse also look on amazon for books about the country at hand look on google earth to see the areas you are talking about watch documentaries etc see if you can find anyone from said country to chat to either on line or on the meat space (e.g wreybies was very helpful to me when I was writing a book set in puerto rico) assuming said country is safe to visit take the info gleaned from the above and visit it
Kind of sounds like a remixed Singapore which what you're going for here. Honestly, countries like Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, etc are pretty different in their own right especially with their respective histories. If you're trying to make a Southeast Asian inspired fictional country, try taking more distinct elements from each of the real-world countries.
Arranged marriages? Sports? American style football or European style football? Hockey? Bowling? Entertainment? Bars, pool halls, bowling alleys, shooting ranges, television shows,....? Who do the citizens "hero worship"? Like, are political figures like the President/Prime Minister respected and have admirers who seek their autographs? Singers? Actors? Religious leaders? How free is information? Is there universal education and everyone knows how to read or is education limited to the wealthy and lucky? Economic system? Paper currency, barter, mutual benefit? Resources? Timber, fish, farm land, mines (coal, ores such copper/gold?), citizens that have an inherent ability to do a difficult or dangerous task? I'm thinking of the indians in the past that worked in New York and Chicago building the skyscrapers. They were considered fearless apparently for working so high in the air without getting dizzy. EDIT: How do they treat their young? Are they shipped off to daycares and looked after by people earning minimum wage? Or are they raised by extended family - grandparents? How are the elderly treated? Shipped off to the nursing home? Kept at home and cared for by family? Which family member(s) - is caring work the responsibility of women or is it equal between the sexes?
This may help. A lot of role-playing games, as they progress they try to customize their own worlds. I was actually looking for a book that I very *vaguely* recall on the topic which I think was titled: World Building in Dungeons & Dragons and I found the website below via google. https://donjon.bin.sh/fantasy/demographics/ A kids book on the topic is: You Rule!: Create your own country Scott Forbes & Emma Laura Jones Published by: Lonely Planet Kids 2015
